RICKY HATTON has vowed to emulate Kostya Tszyu's long and distinguished reign as world light-welterweight champion after dethroning the Australian in Manchester.

Hatton battered Tszyu into submission to the extent the champion failed to come off his stool for the final round, sending the 22,000 capacity MEN Arena crowd wild with delight.

And 26-year-old Hatton quickly paid tribute to his vanquished opponent, who had first claimed the IBF title which now belongs to Hatton back in 1995.

Hatton said: "Hopefully now I can do the title proud and in a few years time Kostya can say, I lost my title to a great champion.

"With what Kostya has achieved I don't think he has anything more to prove to be honest.

"What a lot of people don't realise is that I have only just reached my peak. I am 26, I have had a lot of cuts along the way but I have not had too many thrillers."

But the 35- year- old Tszyu is unlikely to relish a rematch after being outworked by Hatton through the second half of the fight and trailing on all three judges' scorecards when the bout was stopped in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Tszyu came up with no excuses for his defeat, admitting: "I don't know why I stayed close to him. I never really caught him on the chin. He deserved the win.

"I have not been that tired or exhausted for years and years. I had one of the best training camps and I was in great shape. Something was wrong. He was the better man."

Asked if the defeat would bring an end to the glittering career which saw him ranked as the pound-for-pound greatest fighter in the world, Tszyu added: "I am not saying this is the end of my career. Maybe yes, maybe no."

Hatton's win came after 11 relentless rounds in which he expertly avoided the best of Tszyu's fabled right hands by bulling in close and mixing it up with the champion.

He came on more strongly as the rounds progressed to book one of Britain's biggest boxing victories and pave the way for a series of superfights in the United States.

Hatton now sits in pole position on top of the best division in world boxing, with rival champions Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto and Vivian Harris all also putting their lesser belts on the line this month.

Fights with any of those three would be huge but as far as Jay Larkin, senior vice-president of the American Showtime pay-per-view network is concerned, Hatton is already number one.

"Ricky is now the undisputed world light-welterweight champion - the titles are a nonsense," said Larkin..

"Tszyu was the undisputed champion and was stripped of his belts by political backroom dealings. In the opinion of everyone in the world, Ricky is now the champion."

Despite the megafights and millionaire status which now approach, Hatton proved success would not change him by celebrating his success with a 'bad shirt' party at a local pub in Hattersley.